Defoliated a Water-elm

[Zach Smith]

Here's a water-elm I've been working on for a few years. This year I felt it was time to do a summer defoliation, in order to get a new fresh set of leaves, encourage back-budding and prepare the tree for showing in the fall. The first shot is from July 7th, the second was taken today. Comments welcome, as always.

Zach

 

[Tieball]

Great to see this treatment works and thanks for supporting before and after photos...how about and update photo at show-time? I'm not ready to defoliate yet...perhaps in the future when I get brave. Next year in spring i hope to begin the second and third branch level development on my Water Elm. Have you taken any close-ups of the leaf development? Did the leaf removal produce new branching along with the new leaves. Can you take a couple of close-up branch development pictures. Inquisitive...to help me with my tree.

 

[Zach Smith]

I'll see if I can do that. Been dodging rain the past two weeks, it's literally rained every day (and often torrentially).

I've been waiting to do this defoliation for the right time. Since we collect the species in summer, after the trees have been defoliated by submersion then recovery and a second defoliation upon collection, I like to wait a couple of years to ensure complete recovery. Our statewide show is in October, so I'll take some additional shots in September. We'll see for sure how the treatment worked.

Zach

 

[Zach Smith]

Here are a couple of close-ups to show how the new budding is coming along. As I pinch these new shoots, I'll increase foliage density.

I'll post another shot of the tree in about a week. It should be fully leafed out by then.

Zach

 

[Zach Smith]

As promised, a shot of the tree fully leafed out.

Zach

 

[pjkatich]

Hi Zach,

This water elm is coming along nicely.

It's easy to see a good tree taking shape here.

Thanks for taking the time to share.

Cheers,
Paul

 

[Tieball]

Zach...when you defoliate the tree does the branch still thicken as growth develops? More specifically perhaps, does the point where the branch connects to the trunk thicken as new leaves grow out on the branch? ...and then do all the branch extensions on that single branch tend to thicken somewhat along with the first connection to the trunk?

Thanks for the close-up pics...excellent work on the tree.

 

[Zach Smith]

The short answer is yes. The longer answer is, when you defoliate a tree you're necessarily restricting the tendency toward the lankier, vegetative growth that can thicken a branch quickly. This is why we often use sacrifice branches directly on the branches we want to thicken, particularly if the tree is farther along in its design and we need to correct an imbalance among the branches.

The process of branch thickening is straightforward. As a new branch extends it swells due to the need to conduct water and nutrients to the developing leaves and return sugars and other compounds to the rest of the tree below its position. Each new flush of growth on the branch adds thickness, the amount depending on how long you let it grow. So for trees that are fully designed and get defoliated each year, you don't really see the thickening that you would if the growth were left to go wild, but the process is still occurring.

Hope this helps. And thanks for the kind words.

Zach

 

[Tieball]

Helps perfectly well. Thanks for the easy-to-understand approach to the reply.